The term bogan (/ˈboʊɡən/[1]) is a derogatory Australian and New Zealandslang word used to describe a person whose speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour exemplify values and behaviour considered unrefined or unsophisticated. Depending on the context, the term can be pejorative or self-deprecating.[2]

Since the 1980s, the bogan has become a very well-recognised subculture, often as an example of bad taste.[3][4] It has antecedents in the Australian larrikin and ocker, and various localised names exist that describe the same or very similar people to the bogan.[5]

The term became widely known in the late 1980s when the teenage character Kylie Mole (played by Mary-Anne Fahey), in the Australian sketch comedy television series The Comedy Company, frequently used the term to disparage anyone she disliked.[8] The same program included a sketch about a magazine called Bogue (a parody of Vogue), which featured traditional bogans. Merrick and Rosso (from Melbourne) also used the term on their Triple J national radio show.

There are places in western New South Wales that contain bogan in their name—for example Bogan Shire, the Bogan River and the rural village of Bogan Gate—but they are not regarded as the source of the term. Bogan Gate, for example, is derived from the local Aboriginal word meaning "the birthplace of a notable headman of the local tribe".[8] Residents of streets such as Bogan Place and Bogan Road have been moved to action by the negative connotations of their street names and lobbied to rename them.[9] The 1902 poem "City of Dreadful Thirst" by Australian poet Banjo Paterson makes reference to a "Bogan shower" as a term meaning "three raindrops and some dust", although this is likely a reference to the dry area around the Bogan River. Makeshift gates in a rural fence in northwest NSW were known as bogan gates at least as early as the 1960s.

Bogans generally reside in the outer suburbs of larger cities, have teeth that haven't had dental care due to cost, have an anti-authoritarian stance, jingoism, home-done tattoos, a love of classic rock and Peter Brock, hooning and drinking alcohol to excess.[10] A bogan attitude consists of a lack of pretence and a willingness to be brutally honest.[10]

A bogan, for various reasons, refuses to conform to middle-class standards of taste, dietary habits, leisure activities, styles of dress and ways of speaking.[14] Bogans are sometimes looked down upon by some groups due to their implicit biases.[15] These implicit biases can often make the lives of disadvantaged people much tougher.[15]

Mel Campbell argued in a 2006 article in the Sydney Morning Herald that bogan (including "cashed-up bogan") is a nebulous, personal concept that is frequently used in a process by which "we use the idea of the bogan to quarantine ideas of Australianness that alarm or discomfort us. It's a way of erecting imaginary cultural barriers between 'us' and 'them'." Campbell argues that though many people believe they know exactly what a bogan is and what their characteristics might be, there is no defined set of characteristics of a bogan: the speaker imagines the denoted person to be different from, and less cultured than, themselves. Campbell considered "cashed-up bogan" to be a "stupid term".[16] A similar argument is made by David Nichols, author of The Bogan Delusion (2011), who says that people have "created this creature that is a lesser human being to express their interclass hatred".[17]

By the 21st century, the term bogan came to be employed more favourably to indicate a pride in being rough around the edges. In 2002, Michelle Griffin discussed the fact that ‘bogan’ is no longer just being used as an insult, but is in fact a way to identify with the ‘Aussie’ culture that many Anglo‐Saxon Australian citizens are so proud of.[3] In the past, bogan was a term of disdain, but nowadays it has become cool to be a bogan.[10] Radio station Triple J held a "National Bogan Day" on 28 June 2002, which they commemorated by playing music by rock bands such as Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil, Rose Tattoo and AC/DC.[18] In a 2011 study, linguistics students at the University of Auckland found that the term was likely to be thought of as a good thing by people under the age of 30, compared with over 30's who generally felt it was more of a negative term.[6]

The popular website (and 2010 bestselling book) Things Bogans Like contains 250 articles on various things that bogans are claimed to like, and suggests that a "bogan today defies income, class, race, creed, gender and logic".[21]

In 2007, Microsoft deemed bogan to be one of twenty colloquialisms most relevant to Australian users when the word was added to the dictionary of Microsoft Office 2007.[22] The word entered the Oxford English Dictionary in June 2012.

The word bogan attracts negative attention online towards Anglo- Australians and as such boganbroadcast is actively campaigning to reclaim the term in a positive way.[19]

The term "westie" or "westy" is not synonymous with bogan, although westies are often stereotyped as being bogans. "Westie" seems to predate bogan by some years,[5] and originated in Sydney in the 1970s, to refer to people from that city's western suburbs. As Sydney's western suburbs are predominantly working class blue collar areas, the term connotes a predominantly working class blue collar person – someone with little education, little taste, and very limited horizons. "Westie" is now in wide use in many cities and towns across both Australia and New Zealand, where it especially refers to the denizens of West Auckland.